Second Skin- Fractures

by M Damon Baker

  “That’s hard to say,” Venna replied. “Both strategies are valid, and we may need to adjust our tactics depending on how the battle unfolds.”

  We debated the merits of each strategy for a while but could not see any clear benefit of one over another under the circumstances. In the end, it came down to the fact that Stel had just single-handedly held off the previous group and would likely not be able to do so again so soon. So, we stacked up behind the door, set our perimeter, and prepared to enter the room. Stel, Venna, and Broda would again create a wall, while Khorim and I would make our attacks of opportunity against the undead abominations.

  We burst into the room when Khorim threw open the door and managed to all get in place before the undead were able to react to our sudden appearance. I was able to let loose two quick volleys before our front line was engaged, striking the wight once with an Ignore Armor arrow and planting a Swarm infused pair of shafts in one of the ghouls.

  It quickly became obvious that the wight was the most dangerous threat we faced. He was fully armored in a suit of heavy scale mail and wielded a wicked scimitar in one hand and a vicious looking dagger in the other. As the wight advanced rapidly on Stel’s position, I tried in vain to hit the abomination again; unfortunately, the creature was furiously hacking away at Stel’s defenses, and I couldn’t get a clear shot. I tried to yell for Stel to clear a path for me but in the din of the battle, he couldn’t hear my calls. So, I was forced to look for another target.

  The ghouls proved to be much easier marks for me. They neither exhibited any battle prowess nor wore any armor, and both factors allowed me to make numerous hits on the witless creatures. Combined with the efforts of my companions, the ghouls fell rapidly before our onslaught, and as their numbers dwindled, Venna turned to focus her efforts on aiding Stel in his battle against the raging wight.

  Venna shifted position in an attempt to outflank the wight, and then swung her mace in a wicked arc aimed at the creature’s head. But the wight had anticipated her attack and it jumped aside, countering Venna’s maneuvering and leaving her exposed to a vicious counterattack. Venna was vulnerable and hopelessly out of position when the wight’s blade parted through her armor as if it were paper and ripped into her side. I could only watch helplessly as the curved blade sunk deeply into her body, but as she collapsed to the floor, I finally had a clear shot at the wight, and let loose the arrow I had been holding.

  The shaft flew the short distance and split in two just before slamming into the undead monster’s face. Both shafts lodged in the wight’s head, and one of them protruded from the back of its skull. The wight tottered around on its feet for a brief moment before collapsing to the ground, finally dead for good. After a quick scan of the room to ensure that there were no additional threats, I rushed to Venna’s side.

  As I knelt beside her, Venna was bleeding profusely from the gaping wound in her chest and Stel was frantically searching for anything to staunch the torrent of blood that flowed from her body. While he fumbled around, I reached inside my belt pouch, and drew forth all of my red healing crystals and began crushing them against the exposed skin of her ribcage.

  The first two crystals didn’t seem to have any effect, but once the third disintegrated and was absorbed into her skin, the bleeding slowed noticeably. Without hesitation, I used my fourth and final crystal on her before I pulled out a handful of my healing potions and yanked out the stopper on the first vial.

  Then, as I prepared to administer the healing potion, Broda gently grabbed my arm and held me back. When I glanced at her in confusion, she explained.

  “The bleeding has stopped. Hold for a moment,” she counselled me.

  When I turned back again to look at Venna’s wound, I could see that Broda was correct. The blood had ceased flowing, and the gaping slash was beginning to slowly pull itself closed. Venna had mercifully lost consciousness during the ordeal, and although she was quite pale, her breathing remained strong and steady.

  As we huddled around her, Venna’s wound finished sealing itself, and some of the color began to return to her face. It had been a very close call, but it seemed that she would make it through now. I realized that Broda’s restraint had been wise. Now that Venna was out of the woods, there was no reason to use healing potions that we might need later in an emergency. It had been a better idea to wait just a moment before administering another dose.

  Once we were sure that Venna would make it, Khorim stepped away and began searching the room. Broda joined him, leaving Stel and I to hold vigil over Venna as we waited for her to regain consciousness. Although I was concerned for Venna’s well-being, I felt out of place remaining with Stel by her side. So, I passed him a couple of my health potions, just in case, and joined Broda and Khorim’s search of the chamber.

  Aside from the wight’s armor and weapons, we found nothing of value or interest in the room. Once we gathered up the equipment, Broda stowed it away in her backpack. Although the wight’s gear was not exceptional, it was still of a decent enough quality to make hauling it out worthwhile. When we finished with our looting, we turned our attention to the lone door that led farther into the ruins.

  Khorim paused as we approached the door, and carefully placed his ear against the dark wood. After listening for a while, and having heard nothing, he oiled the hinges, and we retreated—both to check on Venna again and to allow the oil some time to do its work on the rusty hinges.

  To my relief, Venna was much improved, although she was still quite pale and tired. She had regained consciousness and was now sitting up, leaning against the stone of the chamber wall. As we got closer, Stel rose from her side and spoke to me in a hushed tone.

  “Thank you, you saved her life,” he said, and his gratitude was quite clear in his voice. “I have never seen her so badly wounded before, and I fear the thought of losing her caused me to panic. I should have been the one to heal her, but I just couldn’t seem to find my crystals.”

  Stel was obviously deeply affected by what had transpired. Not just by the fact that his wife had sustained serious injuries, but also by his inability to respond calmly and heal her.

  “It’s understandable, Stel,” I consoled him. “It’s difficult to see someone we care for in such dire circumstances, which is why we’re all here for each other. I know you would do the same for any of us if the roles were reversed.”

  “Thank you,” Stel replied solemnly, as he seemed to take my words to heart.

  “How is she?” I asked him.

  “Better,” he answered. “Well enough to refuse any more crystals or potions. In fact, she insists on healing herself as soon as she can.”

  “That sounds like Venna,” I joked.

  “Yes,” Stel replied dryly. “It certainly does.”

  It was good to see Stel regaining his sense of humor so quickly, and I offered him a quick smile as we made our way back to where Venna sat propped up against the wall.

  “Ahh, I hear I owe you a few healing crystals, Dae,” Venna said, smiling up at me weakly. “The cost should provide a good reminder for me to be more careful in the future.”

  “If that’s what it takes to keep you out of trouble, it will be money well spent, Venna,” I replied, as I smiled back at her.

  “Yes, I agree,” she answered. “And I really don’t want to see that awful expression on Stel’s face again either.”

  Turning to face Stel, she continued.

  “Dear, if I am ever badly wounded again, could you at least manage not to look at me as if I were already dead? I found it to be quite disconcerting.”

  A ghost of a smile crossed Stel’s face as he replied.

  “I shall try, my love.”

  “Good,” Venna replied, returning his smile. “Now, I think I’m ready to try and finish healing my wounds, if you will just give me a few minutes.”

  As Venna began casting her healing prayers, the rest of us studiously tended to our gear, allowing her a small bit of privacy as she worked to reverse
the remaining damage that had been inflicted by the wight. Before long, she was standing up again and although still a bit pale, she was clearly much better than just a few minutes before. Venna nodded to Khorim, letting him know she was ready, as she began casting a final heal on herself.

  Khorim returned Venna’s gesture and made his way back to the door. As he slowly slipped the door open, Khorim looked into the blackness and searched for what lay beyond. It did not take long for him to report back.

  “It’s a short hallway with another closed door at the other end. I’ll check it out while you finish getting ready,” he reported.

  With that said, he strode off through the door and into the darkness beyond. But since no one had anything left to prepare, we quickly followed Khorim down the hallway.

  The passage was indeed short, as Khorim had indicated, and we had barely passed through the open doorway before we were forced to come to a stop to avoid approaching the closed door at the end of the hallway too closely.

  Khorim was about to pry open the door when Venna interrupted him.

  “Wait,’ she whispered. “I can feel a presence just beyond. I think this is the source of the undead infestation.”

  The tone of her voice was different. The confident elven women I had come to know seemed shaken. A touch of apprehension or maybe even fear had crept into her words.

  “Whatever it is behind that door, it is more powerful than anything we have faced so far,” Venna continued. “And I think that it knows we are here as well.”

  “If so, then there’s no point trying to peek in like we’ve been doing,” Stel offered. “Whatever is in there will be watching, and we would likely only be offering it, or them, a free shot at us.”

  We seemed to be out of good options, since our previous tactics relied on surprise for success. If the creature or creatures in the room ahead knew we were coming, none of our prior strategies would work. We needed to do something different, so after quickly debating a number of ideas, and finding them all lacking, Broda offered a blunt solution.

  “Bah, why don’t we just barge right in and start pounding anything that moves?”

  After a pause, Stel surprisingly agreed.

  “Perhaps with a bit more finesse than that, but I believe that is our best and only option.”

  Even though we had no idea what we faced, Stel threw together a hasty battleplan, and we staged ourselves in the hallway. Khorim set himself to throw the doorway open, while the rest of us steeled ourselves for the fight ahead. On Stel’s signal, Khorim opened the door, and Stel burst inside the room.

  As soon as he was clear of the door, Stel cried out, “Right!”

  Since we knew that it was likely the undead beyond were prepared for our assault, Stel’s plan called for us to form up away from the doorway. His call indicated which side of the room his hasty evaluation had determined was more promising for our defense.

  The rest of us quickly ran through the door after him and formed up around Stel, who had already taken his position on the right side of the chamber. Stel and Broda flanked Venna, creating a heavy armor barrier. Behind them, Khorim and I would provide added offense from our somewhat protected position. Once I took my place, I drew back on my bowstring and scanned the room for our enemies.

  Two undead came into view immediately; I recognized them right away, since we had just defeated another of their kind in the room before—wights.

  Just one of the undead terrors had been enough to nearly kill Venna. Two would present an even greater threat, but if they had been the only undead in the chamber, I might have liked our chances. Unfortunately, there was a third, and just looking at the thing scared the hell out of me.

  Sitting on a dais behind the two wights was a... thing. It looked similar to the wights, and wore armor and had weapons of its own, but it was clearly something more than merely another wight. I could feel the pure evil rolling off it, the stench of it flowed over the entire room in pulsing waves of filth. Its hollow eyes glowed malevolently and peered into my soul, searching for weakness. I could feel its gaze upon me as an almost physical thing as it pried into me. I froze, unmoving, and was paralyzed by the sheer force of the undead creature’s will. Then something struck the undead abomination in the face, and a bright light flooded the room. A terrifying wail of pain echoed through the chamber, and I was suddenly free from its grasp.

  Once the spell that held me was broken, I saw Venna tossing vials filled with a softly glowing liquid at the undead. These creatures were no shambling zombies however, and her throws missed more than they connected. But even the misses were having an effect because wherever the vials shattered on the floor, the fluid burst forth and formed small pools of glowing liquid. Pools that the wights and their master were taking great efforts to avoid.

  As soon as I regained my composure, I began firing at the unknown creature that had cast such a debilitating spell on me. I was able to hit the foul abomination with several Swarm infused arrows, but they seemed to do only minimal damage, and only dropped its health bar by a mere fraction. Since Venna was tossing her vials at the creature, and getting much better results, I shifted my attacks to the wights, which were now closing in on us.

  Fortunately, my attack on the wights brought me much better results.

  My first volley of Swarm arrows took one of the wights in its chest. At close range, both shafts pierced through its armor and knocked the creature back a pace. Broda seized upon the opening against a vulnerable opponent and leapt forth to smash the wight with both of her war hammers. The wight was still off balance and was unable to avoid Broda’s strikes, so it took the full force of both impacts.

  One of her hammers struck the creature in its side. The wight’s armor bent in inward, and its ribcage caved in under the sheer force of the blow. That devastating strike was followed immediately by the sickening crunch of Broda’s other hammer as it connected with the creature’s skull. Rotting brain matter and bits of bone splattered in arcs and decorated the floor in a macabre pattern of gore, and the wight, no longer animated with its false life, fell to the floor in a heap.

  Broda’s victory was short-lived, however. The second wight, seeing its brethren fall, took advantage of Broda being out of position and launched its own assault.

  The wight wielded its two longswords against Broda’s two hammers. With a flurry of motion, the undead warrior unleashed a torrent of strikes. The wight struck at Broda repeatedly seeking any opening, and finding them all too frequently. While Broda was more than competent with her hammers, the sheer speed and number of attacks she was forced to defend against were simply overwhelming. Faced with an undead foe who would not tire, she never stood a chance.

  In seconds, several wounds had been opened up on her body, each of them oozing blood and painting her armor a deep red. I desperately tried for a clear shot, but the rapidly moving pair left me no openings. I was about to take a desperate gamble to try and save Broda from what appeared to be her inevitable death, when the fight abruptly ended.

  From out of the shadows, a pair of blades struck out and impaled the wight from behind. A bloodcurdling roar shook the room as Khorim pushed forward and drove his twin blades into the wight with all his strength. With another mighty yell, Khorim shifted his grip on his swords and ripped the blades across the wight’s body, nearly slicing the creature in two. I was momentarily mesmerized by the gruesome sight before the sounds of battle reminded me that our most dangerous foe still remained.

  Venna had run out of her glowing vials, and she and Stel were barely holding off the undead master with their weapons. Khorim rushed to join them, and Broda was making her way over as well, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. I quickly nocked an arrow and added my own efforts to their fight.

  As I poured arrows into the foul thing and the others added their own attacks, the health bar over its head began slowly ticking downward. The new information was truly useful, but there was no time for me to dwell on it. While we were having an effect, the abo
mination was by no means defenseless, and even as we struck at it relentlessly, the creature lashed out with its own attacks.

  Vicious swings of its sword impacted forcefully against Stel’s shield. The sound of metal crashing against metal rang throughout the chamber, and I could see Stel jolt as he was forced back with each terrible blow. Even besieged from four sides as it was, the creature’s lightning-fast reflexes allowed it to keep the fight more than even.

  The odds suddenly shifted when the undead monster landed a brutal blow that slammed into Broda’s arm. I winced reflexively as I heard the loud crack of Broda’s breaking bones all the way across the room. Despite the severity of Broda’s gruesome injury, the wound was still a lucky stroke for her. The arc of the creature’s attack had been meant to sever her limb, and she had just barely managed to deflect the blade enough to prevent its edge from shearing her arm off completely.

  Broda remained in the fight, albeit now wielding just her single hammer, and the others redoubled their efforts, but the odds had definitely tilted in favor of the undead lord—the monster’s speed was just too much for us to overcome. I continued to pepper the foul creature with arrows, and its health bar was still ticking downwards, but the monstrosity was dishing out far more damage than it was taking. If we didn’t alter the balance of this fight, and soon, the undead master was sure to kill us all.

  Just as I thought all was lost, Venna inexplicably threw her shield at the creature’s face. The undead creature dodged the clumsy attack easily and swung a vicious blow at Venna in return. But Venna was no longer there, and its sword only sailed through empty air.

  Venna had used the scant seconds provided by her distraction to withdraw something from one of her pouches. She held the object in her hand and shouted at the undead master.

  “Essirith!” She shouted forcefully as she held her hand aloft.

  A beam of bright light, intense as the midday sun, sprang from her hand and impacted the monstrosity across its entire upper body. The sudden flash of light momentarily blinded us, but when we recovered, the undead lord remained incapacitated, held unmoving by the power of the light. We seized the opportunity, and mercilessly hacked at the foul creature’s body as it lay helpless and smoldering on the floor. I abandoned my bow, drew my blades, and joined my companions as we smashed and slashed at the hideous beast.